{"id":1230,"date":"2019-05-22T02:48:21","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T02:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/?p=1230"},"modified":"2019-05-22T02:48:21","modified_gmt":"2019-05-22T02:48:21","slug":"watchman-on-the-wall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/watchman-on-the-wall\/","title":{"rendered":"Watchman on the Wall"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a recent episode of 5 Minutes in Church History<\/a> Pastor Steve Lawson explained, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCharles Spurgeon started a publication called The Sword and Trowel,\nwhich was his magazine. It\u2019s drawn from Nehemiah 4. When Nehemiah was on the\nwall, he had a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. With the trowel, he\nwas building up the work of God, but with the sword he was fending off the\nenemies of God. Spurgeon saw himself as a Nehemiah on the wall.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a similar fashion, EA works to\nbuild up the Church of Christ with a trowel in one hand and a sword in another.\nSeveral current events within the evangelical community serve as a reminder of\nthe need to be steadfast and identify potential threats, and heed 1 Corinthians\n10:12 – \u201cLet him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Case Study One: Bethany Christian Services bowing to pressure to place\nchildren with same-sex couples <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ministry Implication: <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

-“There are hours when the Church must say NO to those who should ask communion with her, in the doing of her work, upon the basis of compromise.” – G. Campbell Morgan
– This is danger of relying upon secular sources (governmental agencies etc.) for financial support, which do not embrace your core value
– Uncompromising evangelical nonprofits, such as EA, could be stripped of their nonprofit status, as a result of not adhering to equal opportunity government standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biblical Principle:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

-Matthew 6 – Therefore do not be anxious, saying, \u2018What shall we eat?\u2019 or \u2018What shall we drink?\u2019 or \u2018What shall we wear?\u2019 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Case Study Two:  Moral Failures of Bill Hybels at Willow Creek\nChurch and James MacDonald at Harvest Bible Church<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ministry Implication: <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

-\u201cThe immorality of leaders has been a reality among God\u2019s people for as long as God has had a people. The temptations for leaders are as real as they are for the rest of us, but the consequences are more severe. When a leader falls, all are punished.\u00a0 Not punished FOR the leader\u2019s sin, but BY his sin.\u201d \u2013 John MacArthur
-Board strength and oversight<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biblical Principle: <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

-Proverbs 27:6 – Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.
-2 Samuel 12:7 – Nathan then said to David, “You are the man!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Case Study Three:  Francis Chan\nspeaking alongside False Teachers & The Gospel Coalition\u2019s Sam Allberry\nIssue<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ministry Implication: <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

-the necessity of ongoing partnership evaluation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biblical Principle:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Spurgeon\u2019s The Sword and the Trowel<\/em> – “Doddridge\nsometimes mingled in a fraternal manner, even exchanging pulpits, with men\nwhose orthodoxy was called in question. It had its effect on many of the\nyounger men, and served to lessen in the estimate of the people generally the growing\ndivergence of sentiment. In other words, Shindler felt that Doddridge’s\ntolerance of unorthodox teachers obscured from his ministerial students the\nawful reality that these men were guilty of serious error, and left the\nstudents exposed to the deadly effects of their heresy.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

-2 Thessalonians 3:6 – Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayer for EA: Clean Hands, Pure, No Falsehood or Deceit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 24:4-5<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood
And has not sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a recent episode of 5 Minutes in Church History Pastor Steve Lawson explained, \u201cCharles Spurgeon started a publication called The Sword and Trowel, which was his magazine. It\u2019s drawn from Nehemiah 4. When Nehemiah was on the wall, he had a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. With the trowel, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-living"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/watchman-600x300.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/watchman-600x300.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Kent Husted","author_link":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/author\/khusted\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}